Australian union reps boost supermarket picket

Representatives from three Australian unions yesterday joined locked-out supermarket workers on the picket line in Auckland, giving moral and financial support.

About 500 distribution workers at supermarket distribution centres in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch are into their fourth week of industrial action.

The workers want a national collective agreement between the regions but their Australian-owned employer Progressive Enterprises, which owns Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown, has so far refused to negotiate.

Glenn Nightingale, from the Transport Workers' Union of Australia, said the Australian contingent had raised $15,000 for their New Zealand counterparts and had come across the Tasman to support them.

He was critical of the way Progressive Enterprises was dealing with the dispute.

"They've come over to New Zealand and are trying to deny living wages and conditions for hardworking people and their families," Mr Nightingale told National Radio.

He said he was heartened at the level of passion and high spirits of the locked-out workers but admitted they had a fight on their hands.

"They [Progressive] are tough-minded and, when you consider the CEO probably earns about as much in a day as what the average worker here earns in one year, it's frightening.

"No one deserves millions of dollars to come and take the money off hardworking New Zealand workers."

Mr Nightingale said workers fought hard for collective agreements within industries in Australia.

"A dollar is a dollar in Australia and it's the same in New Zealand. You don't get a discount on your electricity bill or any other rates and taxes you have to pay."

Today, the stand-off moves to the Employment Court in Auckland where the legality of the lockout will be challenged.

- NZPA